Performance through Diversity and Inclusion: Leveraging Organizational Practices for Equity and Results

359 Pages·2021·21.242 MB·English

by  Ruth Sessler Bernstein, Paul F. Salipante, Judith Y. Weisinger

PERFORMANCE THROUGH
DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION
Leveraging Organizational Practices
for Equity and Results
This book provides practical guidance for managers, leaders, diversity officers,
educators, and students to achieve the benefits of diversity by focusing on creating
meaningful, inclusive interactions. Implementing inclusive interaction practices,
along with accountability practices, enhances performance outcomes for the
organization and improves equity for members of historically underrepresented
and marginalized groups.
The book highlights the need to challenge existing approaches that have
overemphasized representational— that is, numerical— diversity. For many decades,
the focus has been on this important first step of increasing the numbers of
underrepresented groups. However, moving beyond representation toward a truly
inclusive organizational culture that produces real performance and equity has been
elusive. This book moves the focus from achieving numerical diversity to achieving
frequent, high- quality, equitable, and productive interactions that enable individuals
to leverage their distinctive talents and provides the steps to do so. The benefits of
this approach occur at the individual, workgroup, and organizational levels. Real-
life examples of good inclusive practices are provided from across the for- profit,
nonprofit, and governmental sectors and in various organizational contexts.
The book is ideal not only for those charged with diversity, equity, and inclusion
efforts in organizations but also for organizational leaders and managers who can
create and/ or support the implementing of inclusive organizational practices
and also for postgraduate and undergraduate students studying human resource
management, organizational behavior, management, or diversity, equity, and
inclusion.
Ruth Sessler Bernstein is Assistant Professor of Nonprofit Management at
Pepperdine University, USA. Her research, which focuses on diversity, equity, and
inclusion and nonprofit governance, has been published in Nonprofit Management &
Leadership, Nonprofit & Voluntary Sector Quarterly, and the Journal of Business Ethics.
Paul F. Salipante is Emeritus Professor at the Weatherhead School of Management,
Case Western Reserve University, USA, with engineering and business degrees from
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the University of Chicago.
His publications cover training for disadvantaged workers, equal employment
opportunity (EEO), employment conflict, nonprofit governance, and evidence-
informed management.
Judith Y. Weisinger is a scholar, educator, and consultant. She has most
recently served as Associate Professor of Management/B usiness at New Mexico
State University and Mills College, USA, and as Visiting Associate Professor of
Management at Bucknell University, USA. Her research on diversity, equity, and
inclusion and on cultural knowing has been published in Nonprofit Management &
Leadership, Nonprofit & Voluntary Sector Quarterly, the Journal of Business Ethics, and the
Journal of Management Inquiry.
PERFORMANCE
THROUGH DIVERSITY
AND INCLUSION
Leveraging Organizational Practices
for Equity and Results
Ruth Sessler Bernstein, Paul F. Salipante,
and Judith Y. Weisinger
First published 2022
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2022 Ruth Sessler Bernstein, Paul F. Salipante and Judith Y. Weisinger
The right of Ruth Sessler Bernstein, Paul F. Salipante and Judith Y. Weisinger
to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance
with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised
in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or
hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks,
and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing- in- Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
A catalog record has been requested for this book
ISBN: 978- 0- 367- 42179- 3 (hbk)
ISBN: 978- 0- 367- 42178- 6 (pbk)
ISBN: 978- 0- 367- 82248- 4 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/ 9780367822484
Typeset in Bembo
by Newgen Publishing UK
We dedicate this book to our spouses and children:
Dr. Jeffrey Bernstein (1954– 2018), Dr. Ethan Bernstein,
Prof. Zachary (and Prof. Loretta Torrigno) Bernstein
Anne Salipante (1944– 2018), Elizabeth (and Gregory) Carter,
Jeffrey (and Linda King) Salipante
Joseph Weisinger, Landon Weisinger, Maya Weisinger
And to all those striving to foster inclusivity and equity in their organizations

CONTENTS
List of figures ix
Acknowledgments x
Preface xiii
A reader’s guide to the chapters xvi
PART I OVERVIEW
Leveraging the framework for inclusive
interactions to improve performance and equity 1
Introduction: The elusive goal: Diversity and inclusion
for equity and performance 5
1 Doing better: Achieving equity and performance from diversity 27
2 The framework: Improving performance and equity through
inclusive interaction practices 53
Part I summary: Leveraging the framework for inclusive
interactions for performance and equity 67
viii Contents
PART II OVERVIEW
Moving from diversity to inclusion: Evidence- based
guidance for making diversity and inclusion work 71
3 Designing structured inclusive interaction practices 75
4 Exclusionary forces: Widespread social practices that inhibit
inclusion 112
5 The performance issue: How overcoming exclusion matters
for workgroup effectiveness 147
6 Structured interaction practices for adaptive behavioral learning 173
7 Merit, accountability, and transparency practices to address
equity and performance 208
8 Sustainable inclusion: Multiple outcomes for individuals,
workgroups, and organizations 224
Part II summary: Guidance for making diversity and
inclusion work 247
PART III OVERVIEW
Achieving sustainable inclusion: Multilevel outcomes 251
9 Case examples: Practices for inclusive actions and
accountability 255
10 Performance through diversity and inclusion: Leveraging
organizational practices for equity and results 285
Part III summary: Sustainable inclusion for optimizing
performance and equity 321
Index 323
FIGURES
I.1 The Framework for Inclusive Interactions: Overview 21
2.1 The Framework for Inclusive Interactions 55
2.2 Structured Inclusive Interaction Practices 58
2.3 Anti- Inclusive Forces that Inhibit Inclusive Interactions 60
3.1 The Framework for Inclusive Interactions: Structured Inclusive
Interaction Practices 76
3.2 The Impact of Structured Inclusive Interaction Practices 109
4.1 The Framework for Inclusive Interactions: Exclusionary
Forces that Inhibit Inclusive Interactions 113
4.2 Anti- Inclusive Practices Summary 115
5.1 The Framework for Inclusive Interactions: Inclusive Interactions 148
5.2 Managing Tensions in a Workgroup 157
5.3 Progression to More Productive Handling of Differences 157
6.1 The Framework for Inclusive Interactions: Adaptive Learning 174
6.2 Inclusive Interaction Practices and Processes for Adaptive Learning 202
6.3 Adaptive Processes Countering Exclusion 202
6.4 Adaptive Learning and Workgroup Functioning 204
7.1 The Framework for Inclusive Interactions: Merit and
Accountability Practices 209
8.1 The Framework for Inclusive Interactions: Sustainable Inclusion 225
8.2 Inequities: Self-fulfilling Prophecies of Stereotyping and
Stigmatizing 233
10.1 The Framework for Inclusive Interactions 286